Remember the Alamo

On Monday, we went into San Antonio to visit the Alamo. Originally built as a mission in the early 1700's, the Alamo was the sight of one of the most important battles in Texas' war for indpendence from Mexico. Facing Mexican troops numbering in the thousands, the small band of about two hundred defenders held out against Santa Ana's forces for 13 days. In the end they were all killed but their brave fight bought time for a larger army of Texans to reach the area and defeat Santa Ana shortly afterward. Aside from the famous church building seen in the picture at left, the Alamo is actually about a 4 acre complex that is now comprised of the church, the long barracks a museum gift shop and internal courtyard garden area which is a lovely memorial to the courageous men who gave their lives for the cause of freedom.

After our tour of the Alamo, we explored around the "River Walk". It's an area of downtown San Antonio where the river is lined with restaurants, cafe's, shops, hotels and more. We had lunch at a fabulous riverside restaurant called Iron Cactus. I guess I'd describe it as a mexican bistro. Mexican food, but with a twist. Tom ordered seared spicy Ahi tuna tacos with pineapple salsa and I got roasted red pepper pasta with tomatillo pico de gallo. I had a very hard time deciding between that and an artichoke/portobello mushroom enchilada. I look forward to the chance to go back and try the enchiladas. Everything was delicious.

Very fun day.